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Bruce in Bangkok[_5_]

On Sun, 13 Apr 2008 17:39:33 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

On Apr 13, 8:23 pm, wrote:
I used to see manual windlasses but not anymore. Can you still get
one of the type with a lever you push back and forth or where you use
a winch handle?

I just looked and they are still around. So, here is my question. IS
a windlass more for just breaking the anchor free or for actually
hauling it up? If breaking it free is a problem, why not just lead
the rode around a winch? One could also tie a prusik loop to your
rode and then lead that to your winch to break it free.
Another possibility is a homemade device based on a Gibbs Ascender
like Cavers and climbers use. It slides easily one way on a rope but
grabs when pulled the other way. Lead your rode through an anchor
roller pulley and then to your cockpit where it will be piled when it
comes out of the water. You have a line (Line A) attached to a Gibbs
body but the Gibbs is put on the anchor rode so that when you pull
Line A it pulls up the rode. Line A goes around the winch. The Gibbs
also has a length of shock cord attached between it and the bow. When
you pull Line A, it pulls up the rode by way of the Gibbs and you pile
the rode in the cockpit. When you slack Line A, the shockcord pulls
the Gibbs back toward along the bow and along the taut rode. Repeat
over and over just as if hauling up a sail by way of a winch.

If you talk to the anchor windlass people that size their windlass' by
the weight of the anchor plus the weight of a length of chain to reach
the bottom in your average anchoring depths. So, apparently in the
mind of the windlass people the things are simply to lift the anchor
and chain - NOT- to winch the boat around.

Another point, nearly all windlass makers do not recommend using the
windlass as a strong point to cleat the anchor line to.

Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)